Dana, the great Christian Geologist

Five years ago I climbed Mt Dana in the Sierra Nevada all of some 13,000ft high. A great climb but I was a little out of breath!

Now Dana was one of the great geologists of the 19th century and his system of mineralogy was reedited many times after his death .

BUT Nathaniel Philbrick wrote in his account of the Wilkes' Expedition 1838-1842, that Dana had a religious awakening before departure and "his Christian beliefs would sometimes lead his science astray" p50 of Sea of Glory (Harper /Viking 2003)

It does annoy me when writers do this without any support for their contention. It seems to be another case of assuming conflict between science and Christianity.

Dana was a friend of Gray and advised Hodge on his Systematic Theology.

This is the other battle we have to fight and all this nonsense down in Dover doesn't help a bit